Interest rates play a key role in today’s modern economy and monetary policy. The Federal Reserve can make changes to key interest rates and interest rate expectations and control the flow of capital into the economy. In other words, by maintaining low interest rates, capital is easier to acquire. This ease of acquiring capital can fuel economic growth as more money available translates into more potential spending. If too much capital becomes available, however, a situation may arise in which there is” too much money chasing too few goods.” This can lead to inflation due to the fact that as more capital looks to acquire fewer goods and services, those providers of goods and services can charge more money, hence rising prices.

There is a common misconpception that interest rates and precious metals are inversely correlated. Though this may certainly be the case at times, here we will outline the relationship between the two, and how an inverse correlation may not always be the case.